Wine merchant Darrell Corti – California — There is an interview here worth reading if you are a wine drinker. I have personally hated these high alcohol wines for at least a decade because they make you tired and sleepy, give you headaches, make you argumentative and get you looped when you wouldn’t have gotten so with a normal wine. Also, as a former chemist, it makes sense to me that more alcohol in solution means a more likely chance of alcohol extraction of nasty headache-inducing chemicals from pits and stems and skins. My fellow connoisseur friends used to know me as someone who loved good Zinfandels, but I gave up on those wines because of the ludicrous alcohol levels. I reckon Corti himself got one-too-many headaches from this stuff.
DC: They (high alcohol wines) make you very tired. Corti Bros. in Sacramento, CAMy idea of a really good bottle of wine is that two people finish the bottle and wish there was just a little bit more. Some of these wines with high levels of alcohol — you can’t finish the bottle. You don’t want to finish the bottle.
AG: Does this only apply to Zinfandel?
DC: It doesn’t mean that there are any circumstances where this won’t work. But it makes no sense to me to have a class of table wine, which is a legitimate description of wine created by the ATF (sic), that in the old days, anything that was over 14 percent alcohol was considered a dessert wine.
blogged as a public service!
To the wine connoiseur taste is all that matters, but to the raging alcholic & Whiskey lover the % of alcohol is what matters.
I somewhat agree with the article…
I also have a contention, with the artificial processing and chemicals used.
There is a person here that makes HOME MADE, and its great 9-12% alc.
I also have a problem with Pricing of wines. Even if the thing is only 1-2 years on the shelf(which goes to the Artificial processing) they are OVER priced. WINE isnt good until 3-5 years(mostly), and these young Wines ARNT wine YET.
Can I interest you in a glass of port John?
This post. Just another one of the one thousand reasons I am a fan of
JCD.
What a pussy.
what’s the word?
Thunderbird!
#3. And I would recommend this very nice white port, which weighs in at 18.5% –
http://www.trentadue.com/product/9
Port is different as it is not meant to be drunk with a steak.
and before the gags about Thunderbird go to far…there’s this:
from the Dvorak Collection of Crap that might come in handy as a gag
This is absolutely the finest Barons Rothschild wine I’ve found for just under $20 a bottle, from Chile. Buy a case now and wait a couple of years:
http://www.lafite.com/en/php/vins/7_1_4_2.php?id_vin=98
http://www.lafite.com/en/php/vins/7_2_1.php?id_chateau=43
Whiskey fanciers are not necessarily alcoholics, and alcoholics I have met have all been profoundly indiscriminate drinkers. But John’s point is well put and I have to add that they will either have to reduce the alcohol content or the size of wine bottles.
I’m so glad I discovered Riesling. Washington’s state’s Colombia Winery CellarMaster is fine to drink young and since it’s sans snob appeal their bottles are an exceptional bargain for a summer afternoon or an autumn evening and just as delightful on spring morning or a crisp winter day.
Candidly, after blowing way too much on offerings from red to white and more continents than I care to count, if I’m going to go for the grape, I’m smiling when I note a chilled Colombia Winery CellarMaster Riesling.
Spelling error: That’s “Columbia” Winery – with a U rather than double O. With apologies and an excuse that apparently their alcohol content is adequate for me. 🙂
http://www.columbiawinery.com/home.asp
I like German wines.. a nice Spatlese or a dryer Kabinett.
#9
You’ve never been to a country club aint’ ya?
#9. speaking of the size of the bottles, that Trentadue port I recommended is perfect. 4 reasonably-sized glasses.
#7. I would keep that Night Train in the wine rack as a surprise for people snooping around my kitchen. particularly people invited for a work party.
John – Can’t you tip us off with your favourite Bordeaux wines? I am in France right now, and I’m in need of some good presents! 🙂
#16, Robin, If you’re in Bordeaux, you can’t go wrong touring the Haut Medoc region. And like my uncle told me, you can’t get lost, it seems all the roads lead back to Bordeaux. Also don’t forget to visit Chateux Lafite and Margeaux.
http://www.medoc-bordeaux.com/default-eng.htm
#15 – Pedro – Very true.
Thank you! Will check it out! As for good wine reviews, what is the killer site?
gosh, i don’t think i’ve ever ordered a Bordeux. Usually, if I’m having a red with dinner I’ll order a Cabernet Sauvignon mostly because I love the way the name sounds when it rolls off my tongue.
funny, I once worked in a liquor store where the owner was an absolute non-alcoholic drinker but he was amazing at describing and offering suggestion of wines to customers.
If I wan’t good wine I usually go to a wine bar down in a hip part of New York (a East Village one I go to has an excellent collection) where the selection has been made by a connesieur.
Sake wines are good too if you are in the mood for one. I guess John is not too big on Japanese culture.
What number 5 said is Worth Reading.
#19, These guys are darned good.
http://www.winereviewonline.com/
#3 & #7
Port is a special wine, that’s “enriched” with the addition of a brandy.
It was found that to better survive the long voyage from Portugal to England, this wine (that at the time was a table wine) could be enhanced with a bit of brandy. But after some time the wine got ruined. Fortunately someone found that after a long time in wooden casks, after proper aging, the wine turned into a fine flavored strong wine.
Nowadays , the brandy is added early in the fermentation process, to stop fermentation and let the natural sugars in the wine. Also a lot of the grape materials are not destroyed by fermentation and give way to a natural aging.
Fortunately I live just across the river where are the Port wine cellars…
JoaoPT, Porto, Portugal
PS. And if you are interested, the wikipedia entry on Port Wine is quite reasonable and a good entry point to drinking Port.
#25 great… (was it crappy weather?… cos we had some recently…)